6 Ways to Make the End of Your Pregnancy Go Faster

You've made it—almost. Your pregnancy is mere weeks from being being over. The end is finally in sight. When you got that first positive pregnancy test, your due date seemed like it was ages and ages away. Now, though, it is close enough that you're almost buying milk that expires after that glorious date you've circled on your calendar.

However, the reality is that time is actually dragging. The closer you get, the slower it seems to crawl. And as you know, a due date doesn't really mean anything, because you can go into labor anytime between now and the end of time. How can you make the days go by faster? Unless you have a time machine, you have to go about it the old-fashioned, regular way—minute by minute, hour by hour. And if you're huge, uncomfortable, sick, sleepless or in pain, it can seem to drag even more, to the point where you can't even for another minute.

The good news is that there are a few strategies you can employ that just might make time go by faster.

1. Start a huge project. And make sure it will take a couple weeks (or more) to complete. Make your baby a quilt, or have your partner or friends help you completely rearrange the baby's nursery. Not only will this take up time, occupy your mind and give you something physical to work on, it will probably guarantee that your baby will arrive well before you're done, leaving you with an unfinished project and a new baby to care for.

2. Binge Netflix. Although you'll probably be resting, bonding and feeding your baby in the near future, which should guarantee that you'll have plenty of time to watch your favorite shows, you'll be surprised to see how easy it is to let a whole season of "The X-Files" autoplay an entire day away.

It doesn't last forever, and while it can be terribly uncomfortable, you just may look back on this time with wonder and longing.

3. Buy holiday gifts. No matter what time of year it is, do some holiday shopping. Whether you shop online or actually go out and drag your pregnant butt to stores, make a list, get your shopping done (early or not) and maybe even wrap them up. This will kill time and make you feel extremely accomplished, because now you won't have to worry about it once you have your hands full of baby poop and have forgotten how to sleep.

4. Start a blog. Or a journal. Whatever—just start writing. Challenge yourself to write 100 words a day, or 200, or 400. Increase those goals as the weeks creep by because you'll need a place to spill your hopes, your increasingly disturbing dreams and the fact that your behind isn't quite what it used to be. Whether you keep up the writing after your baby's birth is up to you, but it will likely be a highly introspective—if not amusing— memento to look back on in a few years.

5. Clean something. Not just the kitchen table, but pick something awful in your house that you've been ignoring and really get it looking amazing. Pace yourself, and concentrate on one tiny part at a time so you don't get overwhelmed—but commit to doing it. Bonus points if it takes weeks, because then you don't have time to sit and stew about the baby not being here yet.

6. Bask in your pregnant glory. This may not make the time go by faster, but use these final weeks wisely. Take baths, sleep your ass off, frolic around your house naked, lotion up your giant belly and try to enjoy being a pregnant woman. It doesn't last forever, and while it can be terribly uncomfortable, you just may look back on this time with wonder and longing. Or you may just be glad to have your uterine invader on the outside. Whatever works.